A federal judge said the insurer waited too long to seek Scruggs’ ouster, and the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, the Associated Press reports. The court said in its opinion (PDF) that State Farm had not shown “extraordinary circumstances” requiring the court to issue a writ of mandamus ordering disqualification.

State Farm had contended Scruggs should be disqualified because he forwarded confidential records obtained from two sisters who worked for the company to the Mississippi Attorney General’s office.